Origin scene for Kangaroos No.7 battle
Incumbent Kangaroos No.7 Daly Cherry-Evans can peg back Nathan Cleary’s charge for his green and gold jersey with a good State of Origin showing.
Australian assistant coach Michael Hagan has challenged incumbent Test halfback Daly Cherry-Evans to use State of Origin to “get back onto level terms” with Nathan Cleary ahead of the World Cup.
The Kangaroos will end a hiatus stretching back to a shock 2019 loss to Tonga when they head to England later this year aiming to secure a third-straight world title.
Since then Cleary has taken a stranglehold on the NRL and State of Origin arena, piloting Penrith and NSW to dominance last season.
Hagan said Cleary’s form was hard to ignore.
“You’ll need a couple of good halfbacks in the (24-man World Cup) squad I’d think,” Hagan told AAP.
“Where Nathan sits based on his last 18 months with the premiership with Penrith and his Origin success, there’s an opportunity now for Daly to get back onto level terms.
“That’s what their focus will be with Origin in mind, so it’ll be a good battle.”
Origin coaches Brad Fittler and Billy Slater will help pick the Kangaroos, the Blues coach on Tuesday doing his best to toe the line.
“I’m assuming Nathan is doing enough to at least be in the discussion,” Fittler said.
“I’m not a selector at the moment, at the moment I am the coach.
“That will be discussed after the game (but) winning these games on this stage goes a long way to sealing the position, I would say.”
NRL title-winning coach Hagan coached a 20-year-old Slater in his 2004 Origin debut, in charge for two seasons before returning as Mal Meninga’s assistant for the back end of the Maroons’ eight-year title streak.
He has no concerns about Slater’s coaching inexperience, particularly with Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston as assistants.
“We’d sit down and go through some clips and just his conversations about what type of kicks to expect, what play to go back on the tackle count struck me,” Hagan recalled of Slater as a player.
“It’s all about that kick reception; there’s not too many stoppages, penalties, that’s a huge focus and he was instrumental at getting us out of the back-field.
“He’s clued up to the technical parts of the game.
“And the thing about Billy that first struck me was that there was no lack of confidence in his make-up.
“He’s always had that belief; he was never the biggest guy, but was always competitive and tough.”
Hagan expects the six-strong Penrith clique to guide the Blues’ push for a fourth series win in five years.
“It’s a very direct, aggressive way to play that’s suited to Origin,” he said of Penrith’s game plan.
“You don’t get as much time to make decisions. Defensively they shut teams down getting off the line, and Origin is about that for 80 minutes
“But coming out of Melbourne, Slater’s worked hard on that focus his whole career.”
The Blues will start heavy favourites but Hagan expects a tight contest and is confident Slater and his staff will have their four Maroons debutants prepared to perform.
“It’s about having the experience and understanding that Origin is a different event to the NRL,” he said.
“That’s something that Mal did well, separated the two.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
2 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
6 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
1 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
1 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
2 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
4 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
4 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
4 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
13 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
13 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
13 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
6 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
6 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
6 Go to comments